Free For All Friday- The Dreaded V- Day

Valentines Day....you either love it or you hate it.

I love it, but I love every holiday for the same reason I love bad weather. It stirs things up! I remember the anticipation of classroom Valentines...decorating the mailbox with construction paper, picking out the right He-Man Valentine to tell my third grade crush how I felt and then pouring all of the little envelopes out of my book bag. I remember this one kid, Ted....my arch nemesis throughout grade school giving me a valentine with a drawing of a piece of poop with a label that said, "You." And every year my dad would get me one of those heart shaped boxes of candy. I could spit out any of the fruity ones at my leisure because it was mine. Such luxury!

Those were simpler times before a long stretch of sad Valentines Days watching x-files and doing chemistry homework came along...only to be followed by the weirder high school male version of Valentines day. One of my high school boyfriends gave me a ring made out of a dime with an "n" glued on it. Also, he gave me a dozen frozen rolls and two 5 pound bags of flour. Get it? I did but I wasn't pleased. (I think it's really funny now.)

I know that sometimes Valentines Day can be stressful for people in relationships and it can feel a lot like Pee Right Now Day.

It upsets single people because they feel like the pink and red world at large starts rubbing their noses in single-ness the moment the Christmas clearance goes to 50% off.

It causes well meaning knuckleheads everywhere to disappoint their partners by saying things like,"I love you every other day so why should I do something special one day of the year?" (Bee tea dubs don't be this person. If you're honestly pulling out all the stops love-wise 364 days out of the year one more ain't gonna kill ya.)

Can anyone win on Valentines Day with these kind of odds?

I vote, yes.

So let's talk about love, that's what is at the root of all of this mess. So many different kinds of love exist besides just romantic love. There's this kind:


I need a tissue already.

Then there's this kind:

This is one of my favorite kinds:

And finally, here's a kind of love I hope you all have:

and

See, Valentines Day is about love and your life is full of people that you love who love you! Your parents, your friends, your girlfriend, boyfriend, dog all love you. So instead of bemoaning the commercialism or pining for Joel McHale (or whoever) carpe valentines diem and go show some love! You've heard the phrase, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," right? Well, I'm telling you to be the love you want to feel in the world.

Call up your gramma. Leave a valentine for the mailman. High five a stranger. Give a box of candy to your favorite barista. Giggle with your girls. Shoot some hoops with your little brother. Donate a bag of food to the pound.

There's not enough love in the world. There's never enough.

And if this guy can do it you can too.